Mississippi Litigation Review & Commentary : Mississippi Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Phillip W. Thomas Law Firm : MS Litigation Review & Commentary

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (5)
• Trackbacks

The Clarion-Ledger ran this article on Saturday about Jackson lawyer Wayne Farrell's lawsuit against Arkansas lawyer Tab Turner. The case is a fee dispute among lawyers over the presumed multi-million dollar settlement in the Jasper County Cole v. Ford Motor lawsuit that resulted in a $132 million jury verdict. The case settled shortly after the verdict.

Now the plaintiffs' lawyers are fighting over the attorney's fees:

Jackson lawyer Wayne Ferrell Jr. is suing Arkansas lawyer C. Tab Turner and others in Jasper County Chancery Court, seeking to force Turner to abide by a 2006 attorney-fee sharing agreement.

 The attorneys agreed legal fees and expenses would be split 28 percent for Ferrell, 23 percent for Turner and other attorneys would share the rest. In early 2005, a new contingency fee was worked out with attorneys to receive 50 percent of the total amount awarded to the family. 

Ferrell said in court papers Turner shut out other attorneys from the decision-making process during settlement negotiations.

After a second mistrial in February, Turner requested Ferrell and other attorneys pay about $600,000 in expenses. He said he had incurred more than $832,000 in expenses from the start of his involvement in the case. From the September trial that resulted in the jury verdict, Ferrell said Turner requested payment in advance for expenses incurred for expert witnesses and trial expenses.

But Ferrell said in court papers that Turner hadn't provided any proof by way of invoices from expert witnesses.

"Turner has threatened to pay Ferrell nothing from the fee proceeds even though Ferrell procured the case and even though Ferrell has thousands of hours in the case," Ferrell said in court papers.

This has the potential to be the biggest lawyer fee dispute case since the 1999 Dockins v. Allred decision in which the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled on a fee dispute between Hal Dockins and Mike Allred over the attorney's fees in the Loewen case.

That case resulted in a $500 million dollar verdict in the mid-1990's. Ironically, most people credit Florida attorney Willie Gary for that verdict even though he avoided the fee dispute. Here is a link to a video of Gary re-enacting his closing argument from the Loewen trial. Here is a link to a law review article that examines the controversial Loewen verdict.

I suspect that the Brian Cole settlement deeply discounted the jury's verdict. But even a 90% discount would leave the attorneys fighting over millions of dollars in fees. Lawsuits against and among lawyers are often knife fights. I doubt that this one will be any different.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

On Monday Gov. Barbour's office announced the appointment of District Attorney Eddie Bowen to replace the late Judge Robert Evans as circuit judge in the 13th District (Covington, Jasper, Smith and Simpson counties).

Bowen had been the D.A. for the district since 1999. Perhaps most importantly, Bowen's D.A. experience gives him name recognition in the district. That will presumably give him an advantage in the write-in election that will take place in November. I discussed that election in this post.  

It will be interesting to see what will happen if Bowen loses the election. For instance, what if Gene Tullos or David Garner wins? Could the winner refuse the post, thus allowing Gov. Barbour to appoint Bowen again?

The situation looks less chaotic than before Bowen's appointment. But it is still interesting.

This district is a focus for civil litigators because Smith County and the Paulding District of Jasper County have reputations as being dangerous venues for defendants. The recent $131 million verdict against Ford Motor Co. in the Brian Cole lawsuit was tried to a Paulding jury.

I once was co-counsel defending a case in Paulding and there was a plaintiff verdict of $2 million. We felt pretty good about keeping the number that low. It didn't even feel like a loss. [Judge Evans later granted defendants' post-trial motions.]

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

The Brian Cole verdict against Ford Motor Co. is on the front page of today's Clarion-Ledger. Here is the article. A Ford spokesperson is quoted in the article as saying that the trial was unfair.

Judge Billy Joe Landrum was the trial judge and he conducted the trial in Laurel with a Paulding jury. The article identifies Tab Turner from Arkansas as the lead plaintiff lawyer. Barry Ford and Bill Jones of Baker Donelson in Jackson defended the case with Ford's national roll-over counsel. I am not a fan of the national defense counsel model in Mississippi, but I'll save that discussion for another day.  

The verdict was $131 million for Cole (who died) and $1.5 for the passenger of the Ford Explorer (Cole's cousin who survived). The two were in a roll-over accident on I-10 in Florida. Yea, I know: what was the trial doing with a Paulding jury? There was a venue hook somehow.

Yesterday after the verdict came down I received  numerous reports on it that placed the verdict range from $130 million to $235 million. A Ridgeland attorney with absolutely no connection to the case or involved law firms was the only person to provide the exact correct breakdown of the verdict.

The case settled before entering the punitive damages phase. Ford is getting second guessed for settling the case, but I don't have a problem with it conceptually. Since I do not know the amount of the settlement, I can only comment in general terms.

First, a punitive verdict in the case could have easily been over $100 million in addition to the compensatory verdict.

Second, this was the third trial. Ford has probably already spent $30-$50 million in defense costs and expenses. The result of a winning appeal would likely be the chance to try the case again, presumably before the same judge and another Paulding jury. Ford's cost for the appeal and re-trying the case would likely be in the $5-$10 million range. 

So if the Plaintiffs discounted the verdict to settle the case,  Ford might have felt that settlement was the best business decision. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (2)
• Trackbacks

A Jasper County jury returned a $135 million verdict [I reported earlier that it was $130 million, then $235 million] today in the case against Ford Motor Co. involving the death of New York Mets prospect Brian Cole. I am not sure whether there were punitive damages.

Update: I am confident now that the verdict was in the $130's. See the comment by the plaintiff lawyer.

Update: reports are now that the verdict was all compensatory and the case settled before the punitive phase.

Two earlier trials in the case resulted in mistrials. I am not positive, but I think that this case is so old that the tort caps do not apply. Update: the case was filed in 2001. The caps do not apply.

For prior posts on the case see here, here, and here.

Read the Plaintiff attorney's blog on the verdict here. 

I will have more on this verdict in a future post.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (3)
• Trackbacks

The third trial involving the 2001 death of former New York Mets prospect Brian Cole is taking place before Judge Billy Joe Landrum in Laurel or Paulding (I have heard both). Ford Motor Co. is the defendant. The lawsuit alleges defects in a seatbelt and a propensity of an Explorer to roll-over. 

Two prior trials resulted in hung juries. The case was first tried in 2004 before Judge Robert Evans in Paulding. My recollection is that the plaintiffs moved to recuse Judge Evans after the first trial and the Supreme Court appointed Judge Landrum to take over the case.

The second trial was earlier this year before Judge Landrum and discussed on this blog here and here. 

Plaintiffs contend that Cole would have been a major leaguer, a view supported by the Mets as discussed in this New York Daily News article about the last trial.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Last week I reported a hung jury in a Jones County Ford Motor Co. trial. The case was actually tried in the Paulding district of Jasper County. Jones County Circuit Judge Billy Joe Landrum presided over the trial because Judge Robert Evans recused himself from the case.

This was the second trial for this case. The first trial was in 2004 and resulted in a mistrial for one of the two plaintiffs and a hung jury for the other.

The basis for the case was the 2001 Ford Explorer accident that resulted in the death of professional baseball prospect Brian Cole of Meridian. Here is a New York Times article about Cole following the accident. Cole was considered the New York Mets’ third best major league prospect at the time of the accident and played for the club’s double-A minor league affiliate.

In the lawsuit, the plaintiff based Cole’s lost wages on the assumption that Cole would have been a regular all-star in the majors—a questionable assumption based on Cole’s minor league statistics. The plaintiffs asked for $140 million in damages.

The case was originally tried in 2004 for three weeks with Judge Evans presiding. Plaintiff lawyers included Wayne Ferrell, Jim Nobles and Texas lawyers.

For the 2010 re-trial, plaintiffs added Tab Turner to the attorney roster. Both sides had many attorneys in the courtroom. The second trial lasted two weeks and resulted in a hung jury for both of the two plaintiffs.

Barry Ford and other Baker Donelson lawyers were involved in both trials on the defense side. Ford typically also brings in out-of-state lawyers to try cases in Mississippi.

It would not be surprising to see this case tried for a third time. The plaintiffs probably have expenses in the case in the six-figure range, which will make settlement difficult. In addition, Ford is not afraid to try cases in tough jurisdictions like Paulding.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

On Thursday Circuit Judge Billy Joe Landrum declared a mistrial after a Jones County Circuit Court jury was unable to reach a verdict in a products liability trial against Ford Motor Co. The trial lasted for several weeks.

Baker Donelson and out-of-state lawyers represented Ford. I do not yet know who represented the plaintiffs or the alleged defect at issue.